Chapter 5:

Another day.

This time Astrid had a smile on her face. Hiccup was finally accepting more and more to trust her and she was able to help him properly.

They weren't talking much but he was definitely nicer and Astrid was grateful for it as it's not easy to not groan or even keep her calm with someone constantly pushing her away when all she does is trying to be a good person.

Astrid is not known as a patient person and with him, her cool was being challenged. But Hiccup changed. Because she actually raised her voice and was blurting what was on her mind.

She always was honest with people. She hated lying. Even despited it. It put her in too many awkward situations so she swore she would never lie again.

She was putting her gym shoes and went to the back room where Hiccup was waiting in his wheeling chair. He was on his phone and didn't hear her entering the room. Only when she closed the door, he lifted his eyes on her and sighed.

-"Ready?", Astrid asked, small smile on her face.

-"I guess.", Hiccup shrugged.

Astrid went to take a yoga carpet and put it not so far from it so he can sit on his own.

-"I thought we were going to try to make me walk?", Hiccup crawled on the carpet.

-"And yeah, that's what we're doing.", Astrid sat next to him.

-"Am I not supposed to stand to walk? Or is it how we are walking now? Cause then, heck people are evolving fast.", Hiccup scoffed.

Astrid couldn't help laughing at his sarcasm.

-"I need to know if you can bend and fold your leg properly. We are just going to do some exercise to make your knee and thigh use to have pressure on it and testing your strength that is left so I'll know how I have to approach your training once up.", Astrid explained.

-"Hm. Makes sense.", Hiccup shrugged again, "So, what should I do exactly?", he questioned.

-"Alright. It might feel a bit weird but I need to massage your stump and put a hand on the foot of your prosthetic. Are you comfortable with it?", she asked carefully.

-"I'm not ashamed of it so yeah.", he nodded.

-"Okay. So. I'm gonna put my hand under the foot and I'll need you to push against it. If it hurts too much, you can stop. We will go at your own rhythm.", Astrid pointed.

Hiccup just nodded and watched her putting herself in position. She put a hand on his knee and the other under the fake foot. She told him to push and he started slowly. He felt his stump sting and immediately stopped. He groaned, took a deep breath and did it again.

He repeated it a few times until Astrid told him it was enough. She was now massaging his stump slowly and gently to avoid any aches in the aftermath.

They stayed pretty quiet and Hiccup was just looking at her, focused on her motions. He couldn't help blushing when he noticed her other hand was on his thigh. He cleared his throat and swallowed.

-"So hum, you've been working here for a long time?", he asked.

Astrid raised an eyebrow and grinned.

-"Are you trying to engage a conversation?", she scoffed.

-"Well, this is awkward so I'm just trying to make it less awkward. And since it looks like I'm not going to escape this training anytime soon, might as well trying to know who is the girl that has her hand on my thigh.", Hiccup grinned.

Astrid blinked and looked down at her hand positioned on his mid thigh. She felt the blush tainting her cheeks and took her hand off in a swift.

-"Sorry.", she mumbled.

-"It's okay.", he shrugged.

She sighed and focused back on her massage.

-"So?"

She raised her head again to look at owner of the leg she had in her hands and realized she didn't answer his question.

-"Oh uh, well, three years more or so.", she said.

-"Oh okay. That's cool.", he nodded.

Silence.

-"So you still live with your parents or?", he continued.

Astrid tensed a bit at the mention of her parents, which Hiccup noticed at the grip on his stump tighten.

-"I live on my own. I have my own apartment.", she said flatly.

-"Did I hit a sensitive subject?", Hiccup asked, seeing her expression changed from relaxed to nervous.

-"Kinda.", Astrid just shrugged, "I rather not talk about my parents.", she said in what looked like a groan.

-"Why not?", Hiccup insisted.

Astrid furrowed her eyebrows and stared at him in a « Are you serious » way.

Hiccup chuckled and put his hand in the air.

-"Alright alright! Sorry.", he grinned.

Astrid sighed and stopped her hands from moving.

-"Sorry it's just... well, I'm not close to my family and I just don't want to talk about it."

-"I understand. We are not close enough to talk about personal stuff.", he grinned.

-"It's not about being close, or being friend, I just don't talk about it. I don't like it.", she frowned.

-"Oh. Okay.", he realized how serious she was, and decided to stop the teasing.

None of them talked for a few minutes till Hiccup opened his mouth again.

-"Anyway. Do you have any siblings?", he asked.

Astrid, this time, groaned for real, looking at him annoyed. He then realized that siblings was a family subject. He facepalmed mentally.

-"Oups. Sorry.", he laughed nervously.

Astrid sighed and started a new motion on his leg at the same time.

-"I have one sister. And I'm not close to her either so."

-"Oh. Okay. Sorry again.", Hiccup apologized.

-"It's fine.", Astrid sighed again, took a deep breath and turned to look at him, "What about you? Do you have siblings?"

-"Oh uh yeah I do. Twin sister actually.", his smile came back.

-"Twins?"

-"Yeah. But she's never home as she's always moving around the country with my mom. So it's just me and my dad at home but it's doesn't mean I'm not close to my sister. In fact, we call each other every week.", he explained.

-"Wow thats hum.. cool. I mean cool that you guys stay close no matter the distance.", Astrid shuttered.

-"Yeah.", Hiccup didn't want to get further into it as he felt how bad Astrid became.

None of them talked for the next 10 minutes. Astrid finally stood up and told Hiccup she was done. She helped him stand and he tried to put his fake leg on the floor and to lean on it.

-"Oh! It's not that hurting anymore.", he exclaimed.

-"Yeah. It's like a stretching after the effort, it's always relieving. But you can't put pressure for the next hour or the pain will come back. Try to put your leg on the floor and put little push on it while being sit, so you'll be able to control the pressure you wanna put on it. It will make your stump get use to it faster and gentler. And with time, it won't hurt as much.", Astrid explained.

Hiccup nodded and jumped on his good leg to his wheeling chair. He sat on it and rolled to the door. He was about to say goodbye to Astrid but closed his mouth when he noticed her frown while putting the mattress back on the pile. He couldn't feeling a bit guilty. He swallowed and rolled toward her.

-"Look hum.. I'm really sorry for.. asking about your family. I-"

-"No it's okay. You couldn't know. Don't worry it's fine.", she cut him.

He stared at her, her sad frown still on her face.

-"Well. Just know that if you want to talk to a friend, I'm here.", he said distantly.

Astrid stopped in her track and faced him with a more amused frown this time.

-"We're friends?", she grinned.

-"Uuuh.. Well, it's only if you want to, I mean I was a jerk, well more like stubborn, acting like a baby but haha, yeah. I was just saying that like that. No big deal. I mean it's up to you of course.", he rambled, scratching the back of his head.

Astrid tried to hide her laugh but couldn't help over how sweet he was compared to a few days ago. And she was glad he calmed his behavior cause he was definitely a nice guy.

-"Yes. I would like to be your friend.", she said.

Hiccup blinked and looked up at her eyes. A smile spread on his lips.

-"Cool!", he chuckled, "Well. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

-"Yeah. See you tomorrow.", she smiled.

Hiccup nodded and rolled to the door and disappeared behind it.

Astrid stared at the close door for a while and sighed. She laughed to herself and shook her head, finishing piling up the mattresses.

——————

Astrid was back at her locker to redo her ponytail and headed to Toby, that was bicycling casually, with Claire standing next to him. The browned haired girl saw her friend coming and smirked.

-"Well look who it is. How was re-education with cutie boy?", Claire teased.

-"It was fine. And stop with that nickname.", Astrid rolled her eyes.

-"Oh come on, we are not blind. We saw how kind he is now with you. We know something happen.", Toby said.

-"Nothing happen. I just told him that he needed to stop being a jerk and I won't give up on him until he walks again.", Astrid shrugged.

-"Awww! You said you won't give up on him!", Claire put a hand on her heart.

-"You have a crush on cute guy!", Toby winked.

-"Errr, no I- You know what, I need to prepare the zumba class. I'll let you two to your little fantasy.", Astrid waved before going to her class.

She didn't had a crush on Hiccup. It was ridiculous. How could she when she barely knew him. And she couldn't have a crush just because he was cute. She needed to know more before saying it she had a crush. Which she will definitely won't have.

She shook her head and started to prepare the playlist for the zumba, while thinking about a certain smile.